U-20 MNT to Hold Training Camp at North Carolina State

CHICAGO (May 15, 2014) – The U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team will assemble for a 24-player training camp at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina from May 17-25.

U-20 MNT assistant coach Brian Bliss will oversee the camp, which features friendly matches against the Carolina RailHawks on May 20, the RailHawks U-23s on May 22 and the Wilmington Hammerheads on May 24, while head coach Tab Ramos fulfills his duties as an assistant coach with the U.S. Men’s National Team at the team’s World Cup preparation camp in Palo Alto, California.

The camp will be the first at the U-20 age level for 13 players, including University of Maryland defender Chris Odoi-Atsem, who will participate in his first Youth National Team camp at any level.

Nine players on the roster took part in the U-20’s last domestic camp in Lakewood Ranch, Florida, last January, while just one, Jesus Vazquez (UANL Tigres) was involved in the team’s recent runner-up performance at the 2014 Dallas Cup. Vazquez, Kainoa Bailey (Bayer Leverkusen), Eric Lickert (SC Freiburg) and Andrija Novakovich (Reading) make up a small contingent of players based overseas who will attend the camp.

In total, 21 players have U.S. Soccer Development Academy ties, with 10 of those players currently registered with Academy clubs; Lickert, Odoi-Atsem and Vazquez are the only players without a Development Academy connection.

After the camp in North Carolina, the U-20 MNT will next meet at U.S. Soccer’s National Training Center in Carson, California, for the NTC Invitational Tournament in mid-July.

Earlier this year, Gasper, Novakovich, Selemani and Winn were all teammates on the U.S. Under-18 Men’s National Team during its trip to the Canary Islands, Spain, for the Copa del Atlantico.

The camp is the first Youth National Team event for Bennett since attending an Under-14 ID camp in 2008.

Similarly, Sagel has only one previous call-up that came for the U-17 MNT when it attended the Mondial Minimes International Tournament in Montaigu, France, in April of 2011.

Two other players returning to the Youth National Team program after prolonged absences are Polley, who was last called up for a U-18 MNT camp in Carson, California in March of 2012, and Rozhansky, who last attended a U-17 Residency Minicamp in July of 2012.